Armored Truck

A Plantation man was arrested in connection to an armed robbery of a Brink's armored truck at a Space Coast Credit Union branch in Sunrise earlier this year, authorities announced Friday. Officials with the FBI said Christopher Ferguson, 40, was arrested late Thursday, but did not disclose what led them to him. The Jan. 17 robbery took place about 10:30 a.m. outside the credit union at 7751 W. Oakland Park Blvd. Officials said two armed robbers forced a truck guard to the ground.

A South Florida man who once worked as an armored truck guard used his insider knowledge to try to rob about $1.6 million from his former employer — earning himself a federal prison sentence of more than 14 years, a judge ruled Thursday. Hjalmar Towns, 28, fired two bullets during the failed heist, narrowly missing the Garda Cash Logistics employee who had just picked up cash from a Bank of America ATM on Okeechobee Boulevard in West Palm Beach during the July 23 morning rush hour.

Authorities have arrested four people in connection with Sunday's fatal shooting of an armored truck guard at Calder Casino and Race Course in Miami Gardens. Victoria Barkley, 26, Vladimir Louissant, 25, Byron Kyler, 23 and Reginald Mitchell, 26, face federal charges in the shooting and robbery, according to the FBI. All four suspects are fromMiami Gardens. The South Florida Violent Crimes Task Force made the arrests. The Brinks armored truck guard was shot as he walked out of the casino around 5 p.m. after a scheduled stop.

One of the men who robbed a Brink's armored truck outside a Sunrise credit union was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison, keeping his mouth shut about what happened to the $280,000 in cash stolen in the bold heist. Christopher Ferguson, 40, admitted he participated in the Jan. 17 stickup outside the Space Coast Credit Union, but maintains he was only the driver for the two masked robbers captured on surveillance video. Federal authorities, though, believe Ferguson was one of the masked men. Ferguson, of Plantation, has refused to tell federal prosecutors what happened to the money or name his alleged accomplices because he fears for his family's safety, said Roderick Vereen, Ferguson's attorney.

A Plantation man has pleaded guilty for his role in the armed robbery of an armored truck in January, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer announced Friday. Christopher Ferguson, 40, and another suspect stole $280,000 Jan. 17 outside the Space Coast Credit Union in Sunrise, prosecutors said. During the holdup, Ferguson and another suspect ordered a Brinks guard to the ground at gunpoint. The suspects grabbed the bag of money, but were unable to take the guard's weapon. The bank's surveillance video showed the guard and the truck's driver firing shots at the suspects' car. The bullet-riddled car was found abandoned, with bloodstains on the driver's seat and floorboard.

A South Florida man who once worked as an armored truck guard used his insider knowledge to try to rob about $1.6 million from his former employer — earning himself a federal prison sentence of more than 14 years, a judge ruled Thursday. Hjalmar Towns, 28, fired two bullets during the failed heist, narrowly missing the Garda Cash Logistics employee who had just picked up cash from a Bank of America ATM on Okeechobee Boulevard in West Palm Beach during the July 23 morning rush hour.

A reward of up to $100,000 is still being offered for anyone who can provide information that leads to arrests and convictions in a deadly armored truck robbery that happened in Miramar earlier this month. The FBI had initially set a deadline on the reward availability but extended it Tuesday, giving tipsters another 10 days to call in information. The robbery happened in front of the Bank of America at 7950 Miramar Parkway on Oct. 1. Brink's security guard Alejandro Nodarse Arencibia, 48, was carrying a money bag containing about $400,000 into the bank from the armored truck when a group of robbers shot him in the head and stole the money bag, authorities said.

Three masked men robbed a Wells Fargo armored truck after taking over a pay phone business in the northwest corner of the city on Thursday evening, escaping with an undisclosed amount of money, an FBI spokeswoman said. No one was injured in the robbery, which occurred shortly after 7 p.m. Thursday at 2958 NW 60th St, FBI spokeswoman Ann Figueiras said. Details about the evening heist were sketchy. Figueiras said the robbers entered the offices of Phontec Technology, a pay phone business and warehouse, tied up the employees inside and waited for the armored truck to arrive.

Back when crack was king, the Parson gang brought in $200,000 a week. Everybody knew them, nobody could touch them. At least for a while. From about 1985 they operated out of Sullivan Park at the corner of 30th Court and Windsor Avenue in West Palm Beach. They would eventually expand the family business to Tallahassee, where a $20,000 kilo of Colombian powder would sell as crack on the streets for more than $50,000. "We know for a fact, on one block over a 24-hour period, they were doing $1,000 an hour," said Kevin Coppin, a former West Palm Beach police captain who formally retired on Friday.

The well-executed heist of a Brink's armored truck on Wednesday is thought to involve the largest amount of money taken in an armored vehicle robbery in South Florida, possibly even in the state, the FBI said on Thursday. Brink's Inc. is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the masked men who robbed the company's armored truck behind an Outback Steakhouse restaurant in the 600 block of Riverside Drive. The early evening armed robbery took place when a Brink's guard opened the truck's heavily secured back door, then was confronted by three masked gunmen in the restaurant parking lot. Two more men are thought to have assisted in the robbery as the getaway drivers, FBI spokesman Paul Miller said.

A Plantation man has pleaded guilty for his role in the armed robbery of an armored truck in January, U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer announced Friday. Christopher Ferguson, 40, and another suspect stole $280,000 Jan. 17 outside the Space Coast Credit Union in Sunrise, prosecutors said. During the holdup, Ferguson and another suspect ordered a Brinks guard to the ground at gunpoint. The suspects grabbed the bag of money, but were unable to take the guard's weapon. The bank's surveillance video showed the guard and the truck's driver firing shots at the suspects' car. The bullet-riddled car was found abandoned, with bloodstains on the driver's seat and floorboard.

A Plantation man was arrested in connection to an armed robbery of a Brink's armored truck at a Space Coast Credit Union branch in Sunrise earlier this year, authorities announced Friday. Officials with the FBI said Christopher Ferguson, 40, was arrested late Thursday, but did not disclose what led them to him. The Jan. 17 robbery took place about 10:30 a.m. outside the credit union at 7751 W. Oakland Park Blvd. Officials said two armed robbers forced a truck guard to the ground.

Back when crack was king, the Parson gang brought in $200,000 a week. Everybody knew them, nobody could touch them. At least for a while. From about 1985 they operated out of Sullivan Park at the corner of 30th Court and Windsor Avenue in West Palm Beach. They would eventually expand the family business to Tallahassee, where a $20,000 kilo of Colombian powder would sell as crack on the streets for more than $50,000. "We know for a fact, on one block over a 24-hour period, they were doing $1,000 an hour," said Kevin Coppin, a former West Palm Beach police captain who formally retired on Friday.

Tania Ouaknine is convinced the police are watching her. She's not paranoid — it says as much on the red sign painted along the side on the hulking armored truck that's been parked in front of her eight-room Parisian Motel for several days. "Warning: You are under video surveillance," reads the bold message on the side of the truck. From the front bumper of the menacing vehicle, another sign taunts: "Whatcha gonna do when we come for you?" The truck is a new weapon for the Fort Lauderdale Police Department in the fight against drugs and neighborhood nuisances, and it looks like a Winnebago on steroids.

Fort Lauderdale Police unveiled today a new video surveillance vehicle the agency calls “The Peacemaker.” The used armored truck was purchased for $10 from Brinks armored truck company, Detective Travis Mandell said. “Its equipment can record video at all hours, when it is parked in high crime areas and where we receive complaints and allegations of criminal activity taking place,” Mandell said. Video will be analyzed for criminal investigations and retained in accordance with a general records schedule for state and local government agencies, a minimum of 30 days, he said.

Authorities have arrested four people in connection with Sunday's fatal shooting of an armored truck guard at Calder Casino and Race Course in Miami Gardens. Victoria Barkley, 26, Vladimir Louissant, 25, Byron Kyler, 23 and Reginald Mitchell, 26, face federal charges in the shooting and robbery, according to the FBI. All four suspects are fromMiami Gardens. The South Florida Violent Crimes Task Force made the arrests. The Brinks armored truck guard was shot as he walked out of the casino around 5 p.m. after a scheduled stop.

Fort Lauderdale detectives on Thursday scanned security videos for clues into an armored truck heist in which a "substantial" amount or money was stolen, authorities said. Two gunmen held up a pair of Brink's guards Wednesday night at the Bank of America at 1425 NW 62nd St., said Sgt. Frank Sousa, spokesman for the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. No one was hurt. Sousa declined to say how much money was taken. "All I can say is that it was a substantial amount," he said. Police and the FBI are trying to find the robbers with help from bank surveillance videos.

Neighbors saw two new Ford Broncos and some repairs to their trailer homes. But there was little else to indicate that two rarely employed Dade County couples may have shared in the wealth from the second-largest armored truck heist in Florida history. The robbery netted $1.8 million in cash and food stamps. The FBI says it has solved the Nov. 14 robbery southwest of Miami with the Wednesday morning arrest of four men and three women in Miami and elsewhere in Dade County. Police and FBI agents are investigating whether the suspects may have participated in any more of the 12 armored truck heists pulled off in Broward and Dade counties last year - thought to be more than any other area of the country, said George Clow III, special agent in charge of the FBI's Miami Office.

A reward of up to $100,000 is still being offered for anyone who can provide information that leads to arrests and convictions in a deadly armored truck robbery that happened in Miramar earlier this month. The FBI had initially set a deadline on the reward availability but extended it Tuesday, giving tipsters another 10 days to call in information. The robbery happened in front of the Bank of America at 7950 Miramar Parkway on Oct. 1. Brink's security guard Alejandro Nodarse Arencibia, 48, was carrying a money bag containing about $400,000 into the bank from the armored truck when a group of robbers shot him in the head and stole the money bag, authorities said.

Police are looking for two robbers and their getaway driver who stole a bag of money from a Brinks guard outside a Walgreens on Tuesday morning, WFOR-Ch. 4 reports. FBI spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said two robbers confronted the employee as he carried two bags of money near his armored truck at the store at 15880 NW 27th Avenue around 10:30 a.m. Two shots were fired and a bullet grazed the guard's pants, but no one was hurt, Orihuela said. The robbers took off with at least one bag of money, but it wasn't immediately known how much was in the bag. The FBI says a grey Dodge minivan that was used as the getaway vehicle was found a few blocks away.